this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2024
515 points (98.5% liked)
science
14522 readers
237 users here now
just science related topics. please contribute
note: clickbait sources/headlines aren't liked generally. I've posted crap sources and later deleted or edit to improve after complaints. whoops, sry
Rule 1) Be kind.
lemmy.world rules: https://mastodon.world/about
I don't screen everything, lrn2scroll
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
WTF?
Uuuuh…
Wtf. Where and why?!
It's the black plastic bag material that people used to cover their soil and poke holes through for their crops.
I never thought it was called plastic mulch though.
It serves the same purpose as actual mulch, which is blocking out weeds
Yes, but mulch has the meaning of ground up wood, so I think most people would think it was ground up plastics.
If it was ground up plastic it would probably just get carried off by the wind.
Or plastic greenhouses
Like, everywhere?
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=plastic+film+used+as+mulch+in+agriculture
Plastic was never meant to be recycled.
So, what you're telling us is, they've been lying for decades?
Yup passing on the responsibility from the manufacturer to the consumer
Yep
Other great source of plastics are synthetic fabrics. It releases a lot of micro particles in the water during washing and drying cycles.
Have you seen the process used in plastic recycling? The plastic is literally triturated into tiny bits before being heated up for the next stages.
Edit: why the downvotes? I'm just trying to give some context on why plastic recycling is a great source of microplastics